AfriGeneas Adoption Forum

Torture: The state fails a young girl Warnings went unheeded, subjecting a foster child to a decade of abuse and blindness in one eye

SEAN ROBINSON; The News Tribune Published: June 24th, 2007 02:39 AM

It took 10 years for the state of Washington to decide Chornice Lewis was an unfit foster mother.

The price of official inertia was a young girl's vision.

Lewis, 33, is awaiting trial on two charges of assault, including torture. Her plea: not guilty.

The victim: her claimed cousin and foster daughter, now 16, who lived with Lewis for a decade in Tacoma and South King County.

State records show the girl was abused for years: beaten, burned, locked in a storage closet and a car trunk, and partially blinded with hypodermic needles.

Her torment was no secret.

Hundreds of pages of investigative files show teachers, neighbors and police officers repeatedly warned foster care workers about the girl's suspicious injuries and her dubious denials of mistreatment.